


The Sandcastle

by Crescent_Moon (Ad_Astra1977)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-30
Updated: 2009-12-30
Packaged: 2017-11-13 15:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ad_Astra1977/pseuds/Crescent_Moon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rufus builds a sandcastle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sandcastle

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 and its characters belong to Square Enix.

It was nearing the end of the day at the beach of Costa del Sol. Most of the families had gone away for the evening to return in the morning. Beneath the dark clouds, the sun glowed a bright orange. Near the water, two men still sat. Though he probably didn't need it anymore, Rufus was sitting under the umbrella. He hadn't moved in several minutes. Tseng sat near him, his eyes cast downward. About an hour earlier, the Turk had pressed money into a child's hand and asked him to buy two lemonades. Rufus wondered briefly if the child would take the money and run, but to his surprise, he was handed lemonade a few minutes later.

But now the cup was empty, sitting in front of Rufus. Finally he moved his eyes to the right, past Tseng. The tide had spared a sand castle. But soon the water came in higher and it too was reduced into nothing. Rufus frowned thoughtfully. He looked back to the cup and stared at it for a moment. Then he took it, filled it with sand, and turned it onto the ground, removing the cup. It looked like a small tower. He took a finger and traced horizontal lines on the sand tower absently. He filled the cup again, pouring it out and again tracing lines down the sides. Now concentrating fully, he drew a circle around the towers. Rufus shoved sand into eight piles around the towers. He tore his eyes away from the crude representation and shook his head, a smirk on his face.

He moved out from under the umbrella and stood up. He looked out at the ocean and heard the shuffling of Tseng standing up next to him. Rufus blinked and for a moment, he saw the Diamond WEAPON ahead of him. His eyes widened for just a second and his breath left him.

"Sir?" The word shook Rufus back to life, though he didn't show any reaction. But his heart was pounding. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Instead of looking over at Tseng, he looked down at his own "castle" and saw that the tide had wiped that out as well.

"I'm sorry about that," said Tseng, who had been watching intently as Rufus built his own castle.

"Hmph." Rufus shook his head. "I'll build something better tomorrow."

**Author's Note:**

> A/N – I'd like to thank Zarazia from the Genesis Awards board for putting up some ideas for challenges; this is one of the ideas, so without it I wouldn't have the story without her idea. Thanks a bunch!
> 
> 9/5/12 - This is also backdated to the original ff.net pub date. Another one I'm very proud of.


End file.
